The Love of the Game
by littlesaiyangirl
Summary: Phil's niece is dumped off by her parents and is now living with him. Can the ducks help to heal her?
1. Default Chapter

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Disclaimer-I don't own Mighty Ducks or any of it's characters. The characters that don't sound familiar are mine: Cat, Ben, Steve.

A.N.-I don't know the first thing there is to know about hockey, so if I use the wrong terminology, or the games are boring, I am very, very sorry. If I do, please inform me in your review and I will try to fix the problem. Thanks!

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Prologue

Cat focused on her opponents, never taking her eyes off of them, or the puck, for even for an instant. Sweat trickled down her neck, it had been a long game. She had been playing hockey since she was four years old, and the practice had paid off. She was the best goalie in the state of Montana. //Good thing,// she thought, //these guys are pretty good.//

Her team, the lions, was playing against one of the best teams in the state. The falcons were definitely a tough team, the lions had their work cut out for them. Cat smiled, relishing the adrenaline rush, there were two minutes left in the game. Her team had scored one point, but she had managed to thwart any and all attacks by the falcons, and their frustration was imminent on their faces…especially their center, Ben Sanders, who was the state's leading scorer.

Sanders got a hold of the puck, and started to make his way towards the goal. He shot, but Cat blocked it. She heard him groan in exasperation. One of his teammates stole the puck from Cat's team. The falcons then did a well thought out, well practiced passing routine, with the puck finally ending up in Ben's possession. Cat sighed, //Like I didn't see THAT one coming, they depend too much on him.//

Ben attempted to fake her out, pulling what he thought was a sure way to get a goal in before the end of the game. Cat again blocked the shot. 0:10. Ben was enraged and, ignoring his coach's calls from the side, went for another shot. He circled around, trying again to fake her out, blinded by his rage. He shot…and landed the puck snugly into Cat's glove.

A siren sounded, the lions had won! Cat took her mask off and looked at Ben, he was seething. She shrugged, "You really almost made it past me, keep practicing!" She smiled and extended her hand. Ben looked at her hand and glared at her, turned around and went straight to the lockers. Cat sighed and shook her head. She was then called over to her teammates and joined the celebration.

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The lockers had been all but cleared out. Cat said goodbye to her teammates, saying she couldn't find her skate covers. She went back into the locker room to search. She had been looking for only a few minutes when she heard someone behind her. At first glance, she thought it was the falcon's goalie, Steve Polie, she and Steve were good friends. But she realized that whoever this was only had Steve's mask on, and was holding his goalie stick.

"Steve?" she said, trying not to sound afraid. Whoever it was smiled and raised the goalie stick. Cat screamed as the stick came into contact with the side of her knee.

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Ben Sanders walked out of the arena, smiling smugly, and caught up to his friends. The goalie, Steve, looked at him with relief etched on his face. "Oh man, my mask and my stick, where were they?" Ben shrugged nonchalantly and said, "I found them just lying around in the locker room."

Inside the locker room, Cat was sobbing and yelling in pain, holding her right knee.

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Bum, bum, bum! What a jerk huh? Well, I have no idea how many chapters this is going to have, or when I will continue it. I already have a good part of the next chapter written. Well, PLEASE REVIEW!!! I want to know how I am doing!

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	2. Beginnings

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The Love of the Game

Disclaimer- I do not own "The Mighty Ducks" or any of its characters. But the character of Cassandra is mine.

It was 7:00 am at the pond. The ducks were up and getting ready for practice. "Hey bro, can't we schedule our practice a bit later in the day? I mean, the sun is barely up!" said Nosedive, yawning. Wildwing closed his locker and put his mask on. "I've thought about it, but no. First of all, this early in the morning, we don't have to worry about anyone trying to sneak in for an autograph." He said. They went out onto the ice. "Secondly, Phil doesn't get here for another hour, so we don't have to worry about him." Nosedive had to admit defeat at his brother's last statement.

They hadn't been practicing five minutes when they heard yelling coming from Phil's office. Duke motioned for then to be quiet and began to creep off the ice and towards the door. When he got there, he signaled for the others to follow. They looked in the small window and saw Phil arguing with someone on the phone.

"Listen, I don't know if I can afford it… What?! She's your daughter, what do you mean you won't be coming back for her?! …Yes I know she's my niece but…NO I…Paris?! Are you crazy?! Tim look, you're my big brother you… Oh, you don't want me to call you brother anymore. All right, what should I call you? …Mr. Palmfeather? All right Mr. Palmfeather, where is she now? …The Anaheim Airport?! Tim, don't you hang up on me, TIM!!" Phil slammed the phone down and slumped down in his chair, his face in his hands. Wildwing realized that he was crying.

"Come on guys, we should leave him alone." He said. Mallory looked at him, "Are you sure we shouldn't…" Wildwing shook his head, "If he wants to tell us then he will. Let's not pry. Remember how much humans value their privacy." The others nodded and returned to the ice, continuing a somewhat somber practice. Grin sighed, "Something is about to happen." About a half an hour later, they saw a taxi pull in front of the pond. Phil came out of his office and walked out the door. A young girl that they guessed to be 16 or 17 years old stepped out of the cab and was embraced by Phil. He then paid the driver, helped the girl with her bags, and walked her inside. It was obvious that the girl had been crying.

Her mood seemed to lighten a bit when she saw the ducks. Phil whispered something to her, then lead her into his office. Wildwing noticed that she was walking stiffly, favoring her right leg. It's her knee. he thought, She's not bending her knee when she walks. He couldn't see if she had an injury because she was wearing a long denim skirt. The girl glanced over her shoulder at them one more time before entering the office and shutting the door behind her.

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The ducks were downstairs eating lunch. None of them were looking forward to that afternoon. Tanya sighed, What's the point of these stupid photo shoots anyway? Then the phone rang. Tanya answered it. "Uh-Hello? …Oh, uh-okay." She hung up. "Wildwing Phil uh, you know, needs to see you about something." Wildwing reluctantly got up and went to see what their manager needed.

He entered the office, immediately noticing the same girl stretched out and asleep on the sofa. Phil motioned for him to step outside. "Thanks for coming Wildwing." Wildwing immediately knew something was wrong when Phil called him by his name and not "boobie" or "boobella". "Listen," he said, "I cancelled the photo shoot this afternoon. Something's come up." The leader gave him a measuring look. "Is everything alright Phil?"

He sighed, "No, but I'd rather not discuss it just yet. I'm still trying to come to terms with it myself. You're going to be seeing a lot of her around here, okay?" Wildwing nodded, "Who is she?" he asked. Phil smiled, "She's my niece Wildwing. Her name is Cassandra. She's going to be staying with me now. Is it alright if she watches you guys practice sometimes?" Wildwing looked up towards the office door. "Yeah, sure." Phil smiled. "She has a love for the game that rivals yours, but don't talk to her about it unless she brings it up, alright? I'll explain later." Wildwing nodded, then headed towards the elevator. "Phil," Phil turned around and faced the leader, "You know you can come to any one of us if you ever need someone to talk to." Phil had a grateful look on his face. "Thanks, I'll remember that. Oh and Wildwing," Wildwing turned around, "Same goes for you. If you ever need someone to talk to, you can bet that I'll be more than happy to listen." Wildwing smiled, "Thanks Phil."

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The next day, the ducks were out doing their daily practice. About halfway through, Tanya grabbed their attention. "Hey guys listen, I -uh- came up with this technique that I think we should try." She said. Duke scratched his head. "Tanya, do you remember what happened the last time we tried one of your techniques? I thought Phil was going to kill us." Tanya gave him an annoyed look. "Come on, just try it once." She said.

Wildwing looked hesitant, "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt. Phil is in his office anyway."

He said. Tanya cast a victorious smirk in Duke's direction. Nosedive took his position and followed Tanya's instructions. Mallory kind of looked around nonchalantly, backed up against the boards and got ready to jump out of the way of a renegade hockey puck. Grin was the only one who noticed this and casually joined Mallory by the boards. Mallory looked up at her teammate. "Do you think the same thing will happen?" she asked. Grin nodded, "Yes, the positioning and the basic idea are the same as last time." None of them seemed to notice the teenaged girl sitting in the stands, watching intently.

Nosedive took a deep breath and shot. The puck started to go where they wanted it to, then ricocheted off of the goal post, hit the boards-barely missing Mallory and Grin who jumped out of the way just in time- and flew into the stands. They all froze when they heard someone yelp in surprise. The team ran to the boards and looked out in time to see a girl poke her head out from between the seats. "I surrender, I surrender!" she said, raising her hands into the air and slowly standing. Wildwing grinned, "Are you alright?" he asked.

The girl nodded, and picked up the puck. "Wow, that was something else. I don't think I've ever seen a puck move THAT fast, or people for that matter." She said, smiling at Mallory and Grin. The ducks laughed. The girl carefully made her way down to their level and tossed the puck over the boards. "You guys are looking really good out there, do you mind if I keep watching?"

Wildwing nodded. "Sure, Cassandra." She made a face, "My uncle told you my name, huh?" Duke chuckled, "Yep. Don't tell me you're upset!" Cassandra laughed, "No, I'm not upset. I just figured he would. Yes, my name is Cassandra, but my friends call me Cassie." Nosedive made his best "puppyface" and said, "Can we call you Cassie, pleeeeeaaasse?" Cassie laughed again, "Sure!" Nosedive jumped up into the air, "WooHoo!"

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End part one!

I know, I know it's short. But I can't think of anything else right now. We'll get to hear more about Cassie and she will tell Wildwing about her being a goalie and all in the next chapter. Please review and tell me how I am doing!


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